Not a lot of destinations today.  Mostly grey with just a little rain.  A few quick teases from the sun.  Lots of miles between the remaining Canadian things on the list & most of it dull interstate.  Much coffee was consumed & satellite radio was played.

I found myself enough ahead of schedule that I decided to hit Montreal one more time.  A few days ago when I was there, I was disappointed when I could not find it at the address I had.  I was then (mis)informed by someone that the Giant Milk Bottle had been removed.  That night, I looked it up at Flickr & sure enough it was still there.  So since it was just a mere two-hour roundtrip loop out of my way, I just had to go back to get it.  And then another quick pitstop in Granby to reshoot the Blanche Neige which I had blurred.

Le Madrid is the closest to an American-style tourist trap that I have seen.  Located in Saint-Léonard-d’Aston, it is right off a major highway (l’autoroute 20).  It opened in 1968 as the Moulin Rouge restaurant.  Dinosaurs and monster trucks now lure in motorists in addition to the usual offerings of gas, food & lodging.  More about the place: here.

I found a little pondy boat launching place in Saint-Georges-de-Windsor for the dogs’ final romp in Canada.  Then it was off to the border crossing which took far less time than recent experiences — only about a half hour.  Then it was on to a few stops in VT before visiting & staying with a friend in Springfield.  I took the night off from blogging & flickring — hence the lateness in getting this post  up.

While shooting the Heritage Diner in Charlestown, NH, I came upon this statue in the parking lot.  I don’t know the artist of have any info about it.  The back-to-back explorer guy & Native American were apparently carved from the same log.

More grey.  More rain.  All day.

Spent a lot of time behind the wheel — way fewer photos than the previous days.  Loads of miles between stuff — but I got my whale in Matane! Turns out he is metal & not cement after all.  And worth the approximately 8 hours round trip just to see him.  It was a damned pretty drive anyway and I found a great spot for the doggies to cut loose.

Much woofing and running of legs in their dreams right now.  Surely, they are still digesting the sights and smells of the doggie paradise that was “le municipalité du Bic” — which is a straight shot north basically of Maine.  The water source here is a little inlet piece of the St. Lawrence River.  Popular with kayakers & such because it’s a much calmer bit.  The further I got north towards the whale, the wilder the water became.  Little ocean-like waves even.

Upon arrival at any watery place, Nik heads out to alert me to it just in case I didn’t notice.

Game on.  Fixie in her classic “throw it for him so I can bite him in the ass while he chases it down”.  But she’s too much of a wimp to chase him in the water.

I have yet to witness even a big dog that can move as fast in the water.  God bless the “red kitty Cuz” which has gotten us through every day on this trip.

Grip is feeling mighty fine these days.  Damned good for 12 and the recent eye surgery.

Say bye-bye to that orange official retriever training toy.  Nik had put a hole in it awhile back.  As Grem considered the option of freezing cold water vs. the chicken she’d get for retrieving it, orange-thingie slowly sank into oblivion.

Beaches are just the best — all my dogs agree.  The skankier the better.  And this place had just enough standing water to create that special marinade of dead fishies, dead birdies, and decaying seaweed.  Fix found bones to chomp — god knows what that was.  And Grip consumed a seagull wing before I could get to her.  Ah well.  And apparently there were also live things just under our feet.  Grem got lots of exercise digging and fussing and doing what terriers are supposed to do.  A real break for me and the usual high stress of her likeliness to run off.  Unless, of course, the critter pops out of another hole and she sees it and gives chase.  Which would be disastrous — but kind of a risk I’m willing to live with.  Sometimes.  When there’s not a road nearby.

Obligatory group shot:

Moving on… Earlier in the day, I spotted this place in the distance from the highway in Rivière-du-Loup.  Needing gas soon, I decided to investigate.  Tackomania for sure.    This Santa looks so frightening and gnome-like.  And to top it off, Xmas music (the Christiany kind) was playing, loudly, although the place seemed to be closed.

Noël au Château looks much better at night — with a little technical manipulation. The place had a few storybook statues scattered about.  Not sure if there was a fairy tale theme here pre- the Xmas theme or if they existed simultaneously.  A Donald Duck that was partially concealed & too far away to shoot.  A weird chickeny thing.  And these guys:

Sorry for the blur.  I was holding the leashes for the heathens and trying to shoot at the same time.  Nik was sure critters were about while Grip & Grem were devouring dandelions (they love the greens & stems).  It felt like the camera was steady for the click — guess not.

Creepier still, directly across the street, at the Motel Loupi:

One more from Rivière-du-Loup, you gotta love a motel whose letters are nearly bigger than the rooms.  Je présente “Le Motel Blvd. Cartier”.

Okay — time for me to join the dogs in dreamland.  Hopefully, I’ll dream about places like Bic or Matane and not about scary Santas or bears.  This place is all me and the dogs would need to be happy.  If you could transport the scene out of freezing cold Canada that is.

Tomorrow should be the final day in Canada — then, just another day or two with some stops in VT, etc. on the way back to the Big Bad Apple.

The busiest photo-taking day of the trip — the Montreal Marathon Shoot — and it rained, POURED, nearly every minute.  Tomorrow, while I’m heading east and have very few items on the agenda, it will probably be gloriously sunny.  Ah well, I’ll find some water somewhere for the dogs and we’ll pretend we’re on a normal person’s “vacation” for awhile.  Maybe 20 minutes.

So loads of grey and streaky photos for the website, flickr and here.  Not as many blog photos as previous posts since it was really like combat outside the van.  People must’ve thought I was nuts just standing in the downpour — that crazy wet woman taking pictures in the rain!  The past few days, my camera has started acting up again.  The lens just doesn’t want to go back out after zooming in.  So I have to press-press-press the button in rapid succession.  Or just turn it off and on again.  A pain.  But after getting rained on a bit, it’s moving in and out nicely.  Just needed a little lubrication?  Just hope it works tomorrow!  I will probably be purchasing a new camera for August’s big trip.  I can’t decide if I’m just going to move up a little level or a big level.  I think I’ll keep this one around (after getting repaired) for days just like this though.

The dogs were contented prisoners for the most part.  Grip & Fix are not big on rain.  Grem really doesn’t mind but starts full body tremors after about two minutes.  Not that she wants to go back in the boring van though when there’s a chance Mom might screw up and drop a leash.  I found some big open space despite the urban setting for Nik to do laps under my control (with the help of the red kitty Cuz). 

On with the show.  A cool concept:  a self-serve bicycle rental station.  I guess this wouldn’t work in New York with all the hot shot bike thieves.  Although these bikes are so duddy looking, who’d want to steal them?

One of the high points of the day was finally getting to see the Orange Julep stands in Montreal.  One is shaped like a giant orange while the other has incredible neon (both shown at the regular Flickr stream tonight).  Lunch was from the giant orange — grilled cheese (as tasty as it looks – not) and a small julep (frothed up orange juice).

Another scary street sign.  I guess when there have been a series of accidents in an area, they put up these “Danger – Debut” and “Danger – Fin” signs.  So when you leave the “Fin” zone, you can go back to not being as careful?  I think it’s strange.  And scary.  I find myself imagining what happened – and what caused it when I’m in the zone.

This old tobacco ghost sign is not all that ghostly looking right now.  Apparently, it was recently unveiled when this giant hole in the ground appeared next door.  Note the Frenchy parking meters and “Arret” sign.

This seems to be a Montreal phenomenon – or else I just haven’t noticed it anywhere else.  Instead of the internal staircases to the second floor, the buildings (in both good neighborhoods and bad) have the stairs on the outside.  And most of these staircases from hell have some dramatic bend in them.  So far I haven’t seen any leading straight up to a third floor.  It seems scary and difficult enough — but how do they cope with the six months of ice and snow?  Or do the people all telecommute?  Surely, they must not have small children or dogs to deal with.  Just what happens if you break a leg?  I guess it’s no worse than stairs inside — but I think at least a couple of my dogs would be freaked out for a long time about it.

I need to start a collection of plastic uniform store signs after today.  I just love them.

And lastly, I had to stop to admire these neat restored trucks today.  The big badge in front tells me that they are Citroën.  It looks like they might be from the 1940s.
http://www.autoevolution.com/trucks/citroen/history/

We covered a lot of ground today and, man, am I BEAT.  My apologies for the typos and grammatical errors to come in this post.  In case you just discovered my blog, these posts are written late at night when a sane person would be sleeping already.  No time for tweaking, polishing or proofing.  It is what it is.

Grey mixed with sun today.  A bit cooler — Days 1&2 got up into the 80s, up in the Thousand Lakes region & Canada, it got to maybe 70.   My French is coming back to me and I can stutteringly put together four or five word sentences with store clerks when I have to.

I’m slightly ahead of schedule but tomorrow starts out with Montreal.  I usually fall behind in big cities with traffic, one way streets, and just the sheer quantity of stops.  My list for Montreal isn’t huge though.  In the back of my mind, there’s a cute whale statue in Matane that I’d love to get to.  It’s about 4 hours northeast of anything else on my list.  So it will depend on how things go in the next few days whether I can make that day-long indulgence.  Old cement whales are just the sort of thing that shouldn’t be put off til another time.  They have a way of disappearing.

I really didn’t do proper research for dog parks for this trip.  So dealing with Gremlin, the “runner” of the family, has been challenging for me and frustrating for her.  Today, I came up with a “babysitting” method which means at least she can be out of the van for longer periods while I’m throwing for Nik.  Fixie is the “perfect child”, well nearly perfect anyway.  On roadtrips, she always comes the second I call her and she’s not into running much at all.  So after Fix’s initial burst of energy, I tether Grem to her and they can both go grazing.  Fix just ignores Grem’s feeble attempts to pull her since there’s a big size difference between them.

One of the nicest spots of the day — Prehistoric World in Morrisburg, ON.  The dinosaur statues were incredible enough but, in addition, most of them were installed in this incredible ferny forest.  A few mosquitos snacked on me but it was worth it.

I had never been to Ottawa before.  Only a few stops there on my list but I got a general sense of the  place.

Lots of poutine stands in Ontario and Quebec.  This truck is apparently permanently stationed here in Ottawa.  Being vegetarian, I don’t eat gravy.  I thought about the fries — but after a recent food poisoning episode, I couldn’t find the courage.

I did, however, manage to find room to sample some ice cream at Chez Ben in Granby.  Just a soft serve sundae but the “framboises” made it pretty special.  Note the weird spoon that’s actually colored as if it has chocolate on it. 

On to the signs and buildings…  This politically incorrect mammy sign was on a rooftop in Alexandria Bay, NY.  Whatever business it was associated with is long gone.

I found this sign in Ottawa pretty shocking.  [Translation from French if you need it:  “Keep an eye on your children.  This could be yours.”]

A nice bit of neon from Granby.  [translation:  Comeu & Sons Plumbing & Heating]

A classic, surviving “hotel” in Granby:

And another great sign & building from Granby:

And lastly, yet one more sign from Granby.  A car springs store that was apparently taken over by the Menard chain. 

Time to curl up with the doggies now — big day in Montreal and beyond tomorrow.

Another grey day with some moments of sun thrown in to keep my hopes up.  When I checked the weather on Friday, the forecast was for rain most of the day — so I guess we got lucky — and they were wrong, again.

I made good progress but didn’t quite make it to Canada yet.  Mostly this was because of a huge glitch on I-81 late this afternoon.  There was some major accident about 1/3 of a mile ahead of us.  Everybody just parked and turned off their engines.  There were maybe five fire trucks and a dozen police cars.  After about a half hour of sitting there, a helicopter landed and presumably took someone or several people off to a hospital.  When I passed the scene, it looked like there had only been two cars — an SUV and a small car — both had obviously caught fire and were burnt-out shells.

A few more stops in NY tomorrow morning then & then we should be crossing over the border.  Many stops before Montreal so I don’t think we’ll be there until Tuesday.  Although I was nearly a French major in college, it’s been 20-something years now since then.  I’m hoping to deal alright with road signs without getting lost & whatever else I encounter in Quebec.  Never been.  So this should be a fun adventure.

Tons of bloggy photos today — let’s get the doggie ones out of the way.  I guess Fix’s “pet me” waving technique hasn’t been effective enough.  She is now sitting up in begging position and waving with both feet at me.  And how can I resist?

This photo shows my two partially-blind dogs.  Last year, Nik (on right) had a retinal detachment and so can no longer see with his right eye.  It sure hasn’t slowed him down or altered his wild lifestyle in any way.  The condition of Nik’s good eye isn’t great either so I’ll soon be shelling out about $2,000 for some “spot welding”.  Hopefully, that’ll be enough to keep the retina in place but there’s no guarantee. 

Just a week before this trip, Grip (on left) woke up one morning with a quinty, translucent-y eye.  Luxated anterior lens:  $3400 to remove the lens.  So she’ll be able to see with that eye but not focus with it close up.  Both dogs therefore have funky right eyes.  Both caused by bad genetics rather than injury.   I sure hope that’s the end of my family’s eyeball troubles.

It doesn’t take much to make this boy happy:

Caught in the act!  When I came back from shooting something today which took all of maybe three minutes, I discovered the glovebox up front open and the contents strewn about.  The liverwurst treats apparently consumed by everybody (all licking of chops).  I thought maybe I had just not closed the thing well enough.  But then later today, I witnessed Grip’s new skill.  She has figured out how to tilt her head and depress both buttons on either end of the handle to spring it open.  So no more food or gum or treats can be kept there — everything has to go back in the dog crate in the back.  And although Nik has figured out how to open that from the inside, he has yet to figure out how to open it from the outside.

Now then, on with the roadside stuff.  First a couple gas stations — the first one, a gorgeous mess, in Utica, NY:

The next building looks like a former station to me — from Chittenango, NY.  No islands but set back enough from the road to strengthen my assumption.

At first, I was thinking this building in Auburn, NY was a former Fotomat.  But then I remembered Fotomats have pyramidal roofs.  I know I have other pointy-roofed buildings like this from upstate NY at my website.  I think these were originally ice cream stands but I’m not positive.  It’s fascinating to see the various businesses that have sprung up in these things.

And here’s a nice little collection of signs for you.  Starting with this one from Utica, NY – a bar & hotel combination.  I guess it’s convenient if you want to get smashed and then crawl off to bed upstairs.

From Auburn — probably not the original name or even business.  Neon gone & probably repainted a few dozen times.  Still, a nice little thing.

A nice old towering Sunoco sign in Canastota.  Yes, there’s still a Sunoco station below but upgraded and with one of those huge “c-mart” (convenience store) buildings.  I’m glad they let this sign stay.

While looking for the Motel 47 sign in Watertown, which must be gone, I had nearly given up before bumping into this guy.  The motel looks long closed.

From Syracuse — a great old Arthur Murray billboard above AND the still-operating dance studios below. 

Good god — this one’s a killer, ain’t it?  From North Syracuse — this sign is a little buried in the trees now.  The motel property was up for sale.  I have a feeling this one won’t be around too much longer.  Faded paint over faded paint — you couldn’t create this color sensation if you tried.

And lastly, a bit of nature — Bowden Farm in Weedsport.  It’s amazing that these corn silos (is that what you call them?) are already full when it seems like it was winter just a few weeks ago to me.  And up here, the winters are flat out nasty.  NYC seems bad enough — I can’t imagine living up here or Michigan or Chicago.  I am awed by people that can live in such places and that can make a living off the land.  It seems like incredibly hard work when compared to my typing job in the city.

Tomorrow’s post will surely not be as long.  I have a feeling things will be more complicated across the border.  So I hope this extra long post will sustain you in case I don’t make it online tomorrow night.  Gnight.

This is the trip that we were going to take last December before the crazy snowstorms hit the Northeast.  Since this is just a 10-day roadtrip, I didn’t make a trip map for you to follow along.  I wasn’t even going to do the blog this time but decided late afternoon that I would after all.  So I don’t really have many photos for you.  But I’ll be back in the swing tomorrow.

After only about 3 hours sleep last night, I made Dumb Doggie Move #1 about an hour into the trip.  After getting Nik a big run, I let him have his ballie in the van while I got the girls out to pee & stretch.  After a few minutes, I just happened to glance at the van and saw Nik outside wandering around.  I hadn’t shut the door!  His ballie had rolled out and he was looking for it — perilously close to a busy road.  Sheesh.  Tragedy averted.

Just a few hours later, I was walking the troops at the Culinary Institute.  I bent over to pick up a poop like a good citizen and in transfering the four leashes to one hand, I could feel Grem’s skinny, girlie-hot-pink leash slip from my grasp.  She noticed that lack of tension instantly.  Pedal to the metal — she bolted down the road and around a bend.  Even though we were “on campus”, there were still lots of fast-moving cars around.  I stuffed the 3 dogs in the van and started running around and screaming her name which is pointless when she’s on a freedom binge.  I quickly notified the security personnel and other people passing by.  My first guess about where she’d head was right:  a couple people spotted her snacking near some dumpsters and stepped on the leash.  I’m sure it was some fine gourmet cuisine leftovers, too.  Damn her!  I think I’ll just tie her to my body for this whole trip.

And finally, Doggie Incident #3.  While throwing squeaky Cuz toy for Nik at a pet cemetery, he discovered the adjacent property had live chickens.  I had to climb through what is probably poison ivy (find out tomorrow I guess) to get him before there was any bloodshed.  Luckily, there was high fencing around their pen on three sides and Nik hadn’t noticed the short side just yet.  Carnage and lawsuit avoided.

So, yes, all is well so far.  Traveling with the dogs is always fun as well as stressful.  Sparkle’s running great and I’m right on schedule.  Most of tomorrow will be more New York stuff and then crossing over to Canada probably afternoon.  If you don’t hear from me tomorrow night or for a few days, it’s because I’m having trouble finding internet.  

Here then are a couple photos from this afternoon.   I love the abundance of signs a the Roxy Cleaners in Troy, NY:

The Rolling Acres Pet Cemetery in Troy was a bit of a disappointment.  Granted, I’d already been to two nice ones earlier in the day.  But this one was pretty neglected with a lot of long, overgrown grave markers and not many photos or interesting inscriptions.  This little guy on a pedestal was awfully sweet though:

I promise tomorrow’s post will be less doggie-themed and more photos than talk.  Gnight.

I was very naughty and squeezed in one more day of picture-taking when I really should’ve been heading home. The sun was out and I couldn’t help myself. A quick check on-line later showed that I had about an 18 hour drive ahead of me from FL. Uh oh – not a fun prospect. Hence, the delay in posting this while I was on the interstate and then collapsed into bed. I took a bunch of naps on the way and arrived home around midnight. Here are some highlights from the last day.

The Bambi Motel is one of several fun ones still left on old Highway 441 in Gainesville.  The repetition of the name and holes in the plastic lead me to believe this was something else originally.

In Starke, I hit another great roadside stand: Kings Kountry Produce. I had to buy a small carton of strawberries which were growing right there in the fields. Also, picked up some of the Sweet Taters, as advertised, which I’ll bake up this weekend.

The Diplomat Motel is in Lake City, also on Highway 441. There was no text on the other side of this giant sign so I had to take this photo pretty much into the sun.  It didn’t come out as badly as I thought it would.

The former Sun N Sand Motel in Perry has been converted into, of all things, a strip mall. And by that I mean converted not “replaced with”. The office and rooms have been turned into mini shops.

And here are another couple signs from Perry. These motels look like they are barely hanging on.

I had hoped to finish up my FL list for this trip.  It was disappointing enough that even though I had tacked on an additional three days, I wouldn’t have time for the LA, MS & other stuff I wanted to grab on the way home.  By the time I got to Panama City Beach though, the sun was already getting low on the horizon.  I had to choose between full-throttling it over to Fort Walton Beach or letting the dogs get one last beach run in.  The dogs won.  It was a good decision as they were so thrilled to be running around.  Although there is lots of new development going on in PCB and big signs that say “No Dogs”, I found a spot behind a hotel-in-progress where we could have a big sandy stretch all to ourselves.  I’ll finish up the FL stuff & the rest of the trip next March then.

Now that we’re back home, I’ll be busy for at least a couple months getting the approximately 2,000 photos inserted to the website.  The dogs are still contentedly zonked as evidenced by this photo of Grippie in one of the dogs’ favorite cushy beds.  Usually they are curled up in these things but here Grip has her ass in the air.  When you’re tired enough, I guess, position really doesn’t matter.  I hope they are all still dreaming of beaches, sunshine, strawberries, and exotic birds.

I hope you’ll come travel along with us again this summer when we’ll be doing a much bigger roadtrip to the Midwest (Ohio, Kansas, Missouri and more).

The weather turned ugly today:  lots of rain in the morning, then only sporadic with mostly grey skies.  There might have been 20 minutes of sun all day and most of that was while driving.  So I got what I could in terms of photos – decent enough for documentation, just dreary-looking.  I covered a lot of miles and the dogs toughed it out with just vacant lots here and there for exercise.  There was one brief stop at a lake for some “swim-swim”.  Tomorrow, they’ll get their last big romp at a dog park for this trip. 

While hunting down a giant can of turpentine trash can in Lake Placid, I encountered some very fine murals.  Here’s a sample:

This gator sign is at the Watering Hole in Sebring.  It was way too early to investigate the gator.  I don’t think I’d want to see a captive gator anyway.

After yesterday’s blog posting of a Superior Motel chain sign, I noticed another adapted one in Winter Haven.   And here’s a vintage example of what these signs looked like.

Also in Winter Haven, there was this adapted Mister Donut sign. The store was a regular boxy building and didn’t have the original W-shaped roof.

I got into the tourist groove at Ferris Groves and purchased some strawberries, two jars of jam, and a “goodie”.  Gotta support these places!  The orange coconut candy seems to be the same manufacturer as the lime coconut patties that I sampled back in Tennessee on a previous roadtrip.  But there were gators on this one so possibly they are custom made if not for this shop then for Florida?  I didn’t sample the candy yet to report on its quality.

Note three sets of legs visible — eager to see what “mama bought for us”.

This one’s for you Jacob…K — are you out there?  I didn’t know they had hillbillies in Florida. This sign is in Hernando.

I’ve been noticing a sign phenomenon that might be unique to the South.  It’s possible they exist other places and I just didn’t notice.  Or possibly it’s confined to Florida since I can’t exactly remember when I started noticing these.  Anyway, mounted on top of a larger plastic sign are these smaller plastic signs.  Usually they have some simple illustration to identify the type of business or just for an extra design.  This one at Ken’s Furniture in Ocala is pretty nice.

Here are a couple buildings from Silver Springs.  The first, an adapted Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge.

And this little building looked so lonely and special to me.  A real Southern belle surrounded by Spanish moss-draped trees:

I love mid-century buildings that incorporate natural materials.  This one in Ocala is a little over-the-top!

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on the lack of respect that plastic signs get.  We’re really going to miss them when they are gone.  This one from Ocala is a real winner in my opinion — and it’s BIG.

So. I have one more day to play and then the following day will be all interstate. A sensible person would maybe do a couple hours of picture-taking tomorrow morning and then start heading home. But I can’t help myself. I’ve been staring at the atlas and my list and I’m tempted to get to Mobile, AL if I can. I don’t have that many stops in the FL panhandle… and, hey, from there, I’m almost in New Orleans… but that’s a 20 hour drive home! So I can’t really say what my plans will be. But I do know that I won’t be posting here tomorrow night since as soon as the sun goes down, I’ll be driving like a demon northward with just napping breaks and caffeine. I’ll finish up the final batch of Flickr photos and a wrap-up post here once I’m back home on Thursday.

Another beautiful day here in paradise.  Sun all day except for a quick 10 minute shower and some greyness in the afternoon.  It looks like I’ll be going home to temperature highs in the 50s.  Much better than when we left!

I found a lake for the kids first thing this morning to blow off some of their steam.  When we arrived, I saw this grey bird & got a picture from a distance.  When I got about 50 feet away, he got nervous and went off to a wooden post.  Then I knew it was safe to bring the dogs out.  Nik battled with a swan once and I didn’t want to take any chances of a repeat episode.  This guy’s beak looked pretty sharp!  I think the bird (egret? heron?) was amused by all the ball throwing, barking and swimming while he stayed safely right where he was watching us.  I’m sure he was back in the water not five minutes after we left.

This has to be one of my favorite finds of this trip.  I think this was an extremely clever adaptation of a Tastee-Freez sign.  From Tampa.

I’ve seen a few of these cute water vending machines scattered around Florida.  I love the penguin statue in the igloo top.

This building in Tampa is quite impressive.  The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the former Tampa Bay Hotel which was built in 1891.  The reflection from the intense sun wiped out the most dramatic part:  the minarets are extremely shiny silver.

Cement Products & Supply in Lakeland had one of these “you pick” displays.  I’d have a hard time choosing one!

OK — I need your help with this one.  These red plants are incredible — what are they?  They look like they belong in a science fiction movie.

 Here are a couple fun signs from Lakeland.  Harry’s is an adapted Dog N Suds sign:

while Dick’s Auto Sales has it all in terms of shapes and materials:

A couple more bird sightings.  These two came in to graze on busy Route 19 north of Lakeland.  I saw the one on the right land first.  A crash landing at that – toppling face first.  The darker one was more graceful.  I assume the one on the right is the male because of his fancier markings?  They seemed a little larger than ordinary mallards.  Can anyone identify them and tell me if they are ordinarily this clumsy?

I spotted this billboard today.  I dunno — is this sexist?

I know I have seen these Superior Motel chain signs in post cards but I don’t think I’ve seen one in real life.  From Bartow.

My food has not been all that exciting lately.  Salads from supermarkets, White Cheddar Cheez-its to munch on, souffles from Panera, cookies from Starbucks…  I haven’t really found any regional fun food to share with you.  But since I’ve never actually had a cone from Twistee Treat, I thought I’d better take the plunge today in case I don’t see any tomorrow.  I’ve taken photos of about 10 locations so far on this trip.  I tried the strawberry to match the umbrellas.  It was as wonderful as it looks.  Yes, I always get nuts with my ice cream.  I can’t think of any food that isn’t enriched by nuts.  This was the small!

I hope to savor this next part of the trip for years to come.  While driving east from Fort Meade to Avon Park, we passed through miles and miles of orange groves.  The perfume of the white blossoms was incredible.  The house I grew up in was surrounded by lemon groves but I don’t remember any fragrance.  Surely, lemon trees must produce similar blossoms? 

It turned out that I had planned about 100 stops in and around St. Petersburg so I didn’t make as much headway as I thought in moving northward.  Tomorrow, I’ll be tackling Tampa and a bunch of stuff east of there. I’ve only got three more days to play down here — so it’s crunch time! The “panhandle” might have to wait until next year.

The dogs only got one real good run today — at the 17th Street Paw Park in Sarasota. There was a huge area with good fencing for Grem and a kiddie wading pool for Nik. Everybody was pretty quiet and tired today except when we passed water, motorcycles, or other dogs.

Grippie has successfully taught my other dogs her hatred of toll boths and what to do about it. It’s become such a nightmare that I usually just quickly park & about 4 feet from the booth and hop out to pay. The toll booth collectors get all angry with me but it’s really a safety issue at this point. Grip knows the second I put my hand in my pocket for money. She looks down the road and at my hand and down the road. Then she starts barking and wakes everybody else up for group mayhem. I’ve tried putting the money on the dash a mile away but she keeps one eye open and the second I touch the money, she lets loose. I stick my arms way, way out of the van because I fear Grip will bite the person if I’m not ultra careful. Most states accept E-Z Pass now so I don’t have this problem anymore. But I don’t think FL’s SunPass is compatible. Here’s Grip getting warmed for a toll booth:

I’m not sure if this building in Sarasota is “real” (vintage) or “retro” (built much more recently to look old):

I do know that the Selby Public Library in Sarasota was built in 1998.  This round building was designed by Eugene Aubry. It reminds me of a couple of F.L. Wright buildings.

I was saddened to find a couple great signs (e.g., the Sunset Terrace Motel) and Mel’s Twistee Treat are now gone from Highway 41 north of Sarasota. This sign and building probably won’t be around much longer either.

In fact, not just in your town or your state, but everywhere across America, strip malls just like this one are popping up.  I really find the aesthetics of this mini Main Street so offensive!

This building in St. Petersburg is not my era — but its details called to me.  It is known as the Snell Arcade.

This appears to be an adapted sign in St. Petersburg.  Does anyone know what it originally advertised?

As I understand it, this place in St. Petersburg used to have gas pumps out front as well.  It has been here since 1946 and is still in operation.  I’m mostly keen on this place because of their clock which is quite large and still works.

Okay — calling all local St. Petersburgians and/or chain experts — what might this building have been used for originally?  It looks like a Tastee-Freez or Dairy Queen — but those wings on the sides don’t look quite right.  Then there are the garage bays — which could have been added later I suppose.

Speaking of fast food chains, how about a purple former Burger Chef — from St. Petersburg:

For those of you that don’t know it, I write the Sign Lines column for the SCA (Society for Commercial Archaeology) Journal.  For the next issue that’s coming out, I wrote about neon plumbing signs. A number of them included animated dripping faucets so I was thrilled to come across this little guy in St. Petersburg even though he’s modern and plastic.  I’m glad to see the sign tradition continues. 

While I was shooting some photos at the Polynesian Putter mini golf course in St. Petersburg Beach, I noticed this guy hanging around.  He was not in the parking lot but actually strolling about the course.  I’m not sure if he’s a regular or gets any handouts but he’s sure different from the pigeons and seagulls that I’m used to seeing in public places.  I believe he’s a white heron.  I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong!

This place in Pinellas Park had me doing a vigorous U-turn over several lanes of traffic.  It’s now a security business.  Google Maps shows the building painted white and for sale.  Does anyone know what was here before to which we can attribute these statues?

This car/boat amalgamation is parked in front of Mahuffers (restaurant/bar) in Indian Shores.  Yes, that’s an outboard motor on the car’s roof and a beer bottle & can next to the boat’s steering wheel.  I assume this thing is drive-able.

 One more sign before we go.  Topper King is in Clearwater.  I love the giant & somewhat crude truck depiction.